Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Can I just make the overarching point that it is not my intention to take questions on matters of the proceedings, but on this occasion, to assist the honourable member for North Sydney, I am happy to make some comments. The member for Flinders did the appropriate thing and raised this by way of a point of order on one of the answers given, and I made a comment on that. I think that if we look at House of Representatives Practice in detail, it indicates that, whilst from time to time occupants of the chair have tried to curtail the length of ministers’ answers—and to the certain extent that is what I have done—the chair ‘has no power to require that it be followed’. That is one of the difficulties.

Can I make the observation that if backbenchers can do a good job of explaining a case in a 90-second statement or a three-minute statement or, indeed, make the case for a number of things in a five-minute adjournment speech, I think that all of us could probably make do with five minutes. Today actually was not the worst day for the length of answers, but I think that this is something that the whole House has to deal with. It is not something that is in the power of the chair to actually put in place.

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